‘The Only Thing Influencers Influence Is Mediocrity’: Meet Jean Touitou, The Outspoken Man Behind Stealth Chic Label A.P.C

Jean Touitou founded Atelier de Production et de Creation, to give it its full and functional-sounding name, in 1987 as an antidote to the decadence of Eighties fashion. “What was missing back then was actual clothes,” he remembers with an air of resigned martyrdom. “People send more dreams than actual clothes down the catwalk but somebody’s got to do the job.” Dressed in a navy sweater, jeans, Birkenstock Milano sandals and a silk Saint Laurent scarf, Touitou looks part Dad-does-DIY, part Picasso. He compares his work to that of Ringo and George in The Beatles, keeping the rhythm going to accommodate the fancy stuff. You could use one of its cotton t-shirts as a backdrop for something jazzy and ‘of the moment’, but most are in thrall to the way that A.P.C is either brilliantly boring or timelessly elegant. Not everything it offers is plain; it has some of the prettiest blouses while its bags range from minimalist half moons to chain-handled envelopes which may not be shouty exactly, but are have that frisson of Parisian cool which now carries such cachet. Read more at The Telegraph.